Pain
by HeidiGoethe
Summary: Evie is a sixteen year old girl from Winterfell, plain, unremarkable and quiet. She is left by her mother the job of being a village nurse, a job she hates. But when there's a knock at the door one evening from someone extremely important to the people of Winterfell, requiring her service, what will she do?


p class="MsoNoSpacing"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"She woke up shivering. The light layer of furs on her bed seemed to do nothing to deter the frost creeping through the layers and down to the bone. Her skin was covered in gooseflesh and her teeth chattered as she tried to pull the furs closer to her skin. But it was no use. Winter had arrived./spanbr /span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" It was another day. Another day of treating little girls with cut lips and little boys with bruised knees. The work of back up nurse her mother had left her was tiresome and tedious, but she persisted. Evie tried to dress as swiftly as she could but there was no persuading her frozen fingers to button up her coat and to tie the laces on her boots. She started the fire and tried to warm herself up before the first patients of the day arrived, no doubt needing her full attention. Winterfell was still, quiet and serene. The inhabitants were still sleeping, but not for long. The young lords Robb, and Theon had ridden off into the Wolfswood as soon as the first snowfall of the new winter had come, and they had not returned. The people of Winterfell were worried; the boys had ridden off with only a small entourage, Ned Starks' bastard, a few hunters and a small number of common green boys. Whispers were passed through the halls and corridors of the castle, the alleys and yards of the trouble that might've come across them, why they were taking so long. Evie had heard it all. Wildings had gotten to them. Wolfs, bears, boars and more. Lord Stark had sent his own men to search for them and she had seen Arya tugging at Jory's cloak, begging to go too. She had seen Lady Catelyn's worry permanently etched onto her face as she had grabbed Rickon and Bran's hoods and drew them inside the castle with her. The Stark children were made to stay inside. The young lords had been gone nine days, the search party three. Evie brushed off the rumors and suspicions, they would be returned to Winterfell soon. And sure enough. The horses could be heard from a mile away, and they woke the castle up. Winterfell's people pulled open their drapes, appeared from doorways clad in furs to watch them ride into the square. Jory and Robb led the group, with the bastard and Greyjoy at their heels. The rest followed a few paces behind. At the cries of happiness and relief that swept across Winterfell's people, the boys looked around sheepish but thankful. It was obvious they had run into some form of trouble, as a few of their arms were bandaged and stained red, a few also looked very unsteady on their horses. Evie had not been the only one who had noticed their injuries, at the sound of murmurs from the crowd the party was harried away into the castle out of sight, to the safety of Maester Luwin. Evie was once again filled with what could only be thankfulness that her mother had not been the castle Maester, as she particularly didn't fancy caring for the boys under Lady Catelyn's motherly eye. The whispers of gossip were just starting to make their way over to her when she left the square to go home. She didn't want the common people coming up to her, asking for her 'professional' opinion on the boys injuries, or listening to what they think happened to the boys. She made her way to her home through the back alleys to the north-western section of Winterfell, a few streets behind the castle. Her home was the only other thing aside from her career that her mother had left her. It was small but cosy. The fireplace was at the centre of the living space, and a staircase rose from the left to her bedroom and bathroom. It was furnished sparingly, the drapes frayed at the bottoms and the dining chairs wobbly. But it was home. A fire blazed where she had left it this morning, warming every corner of the space and bringing warmth back into her cheeks and fingers. The day passed quietly with only a handful of visitors, a little girl who had scraped her knee on the ice and an elderly man who had developed a cold which had seriously deteriorated his health. She had sent him home with a note for his family; there was nothing she could do. The sun was setting along the horizon and she had just finished eaten a bowl of stew when there was a rather loud knock at the door. She hurriedly cleared away her dinner and smoothed her skirts as she made her way to the door. The stiff door made loud creaking sounds as it opened and she was greeted by a blast of cold air and snowflakes. There were a group of men outside her door, all wearing unremarkable hooded cloaks and looking around nervously. The leader of the group pulled down his hood to reveal the captain of /spana title="Eddard Stark" href=" wiki/Eddard_Stark"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; color: windowtext;"Lord Eddard Stark/span/aspan style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';"'s household guards, Jory Cassel. Shock and confusion must have been suddenly prominent on Evie's face as she let them enter, as they all lowered their hoods in silent response. /span/p 


End file.
